You can question Christianity in most Western countries, you can mock it, you can publish it. And you will face criticism, maybe protests, but not a death sentence.
Now compare that with many Muslim-majority states. Question Islam. Name the Prophet. Challenge scripture. You can face prison. You can face mobs. In some places, you can face death. This is not an exaggeration. Courts have sentenced people. Crowds have lynched them. Writers fled. Families hid.
Law: When doubt becomes a crime
Several Muslim-majority countries criminalize blasphemy or apostasy. Courts can issue long sentences. Some legal codes allow execution. Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, and others keep these powers. Police open cases fast when clerics demand it. Judges rarely side with the accused.
In contrast, most Western states decriminalized blasphemy. Some keep symbolic laws on the books, but they do not enforce them. Criticism survives. Satire thrives.
Society: The crowd enforces silence
Law does not act alone. Communities police speech. A rumor spreads. A clip circulates online. A stranger points a finger. Violence follows. Even when courts acquit, life ends. Employers fire. Neighbors threaten. Families disown.
Writers and reformers know this. They self-censor, they publish abroad. And they use pseudonyms. They move countries.
The numbers: Support for harsh punishment — Abroad and in the West
Surveys show large variation between countries, but the pattern is clear: in several Muslim-majority states, majorities or large minorities favor killing apostates.
Pew Research Center’s 2013 report found that among Muslims who supported sharia, the share supporting execution for leaving Islam was:
– Egypt: 86% of sharia supporters, about 64% of all Egyptian Muslims
– Jordan: 82%, about 58% overall
– Afghanistan: 79%, about 78% overall
– Pakistan: 76%, about 64% overall
– Malaysia: 62%, about 53% overall
– Indonesia: 18%, about 13% overall
By contrast, in Turkey and Kazakhstan, support was under 6%.
Other surveys confirm similar patterns. In Egypt, 84% of Muslims agreed apostasy should be punished by death; in the Palestinian territories, 66% agreed; in Iraq, 42% agreed.
What is less discussed is that some Muslims in the West share similar views despite living in democracies. A 2007 Policy Exchange poll found that 31% of British Muslims believed leaving Islam should be punishable by death. A 2016 ICM poll showed that 52% thought homosexuality should be illegal, and 4% openly supported killing apostates. In the United States, a 2007 Pew survey found 8% of Muslims believed suicide bombings against civilians could sometimes or often be justified. In Germany, a 2015 Bertelsmann Foundation study found that about 40% of young Muslims valued religious rules over secular laws.
These are not fringe-free opinions. They show that authoritarian religious ideas can persist even when the law does not enforce them. Many of these respondents are born in the West, yet still inherit uncompromising views from families, mosques, and online networks.
Victims in the West killed over Islam
This is not only a distant problem. Western countries have seen murders in the name of “defending Islam” against critics, apostates, or artists:
– Theo van Gogh, Dutch filmmaker, was murdered in Amsterdam in 2004 by an Islamist extremist after making a film critical of Islam’s treatment of women.
– Samuel Paty, a French teacher, was beheaded in 2020 by a refugee after showing cartoons of Muhammad during a lesson on free speech.
– Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, 2015, where gunmen killed 12 people at the satirical magazine’s offices for publishing Muhammad cartoons.
– Asad Shah, a shopkeeper in Glasgow, was stabbed to death in 2016 by a fellow Muslim for “disrespecting Islam” despite being known for interfaith kindness.
– Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who faced multiple assassination attempts for depicting Muhammad, was killed in a suspicious car crash in 2021 after years of threats.
– In Germany, 2011, Maryam Namazie’s speaking events about apostasy required heavy police protection due to credible death threats.
These are only the best-known cases. Many others live under constant threat and alter their lives to stay alive.
Why many still support the system
Fear plays a role. They see what happens to critics abroad and feel loyalty to a global Muslim identity.
Early schooling works too. Children in conservative families learn that God’s law overrides man’s law. Leaving Islam equals eternal damnation — and in some interpretations, worldly execution.
Social circles reinforce it. Mosques, WhatsApp groups, satellite TV, and preachers online repeat the same ideas. Criticism of Islam equals betrayal.
For some, religion is the last fortress of identity against what they see as corrupt or immoral Western culture. Harshness becomes a virtue. Mercy becomes weakness.
The cost for everyday life
In Muslim-majority states, these views shape every law, from speech to art to gender roles. In the West, they mostly shape community life. Within certain circles, saying you are an atheist can get you ostracized, threatened, or beaten — even though the state protects you.
Artists self-censor. Ex-Muslims hide. Teachers avoid sensitive topics. Politicians sidestep open debate about Islam’s doctrines for fear of accusations of racism or Islamophobia.
Double standards in global discourse
Western media and academia tear into Christianity daily. They hesitate with Islam. Fear of violence plays a role. So does political correctness. Critics get labeled as bigots even when targeting only ideas, not people.
This double standard shields authoritarian thinking from challenge. It emboldens those who believe divine law justifies killing critics, even inside free societies.
Islam: What reform would require
In the West, reform starts with defending the right to criticize Islam as freely as Christianity. That means protecting critics from both legal harassment and community intimidation.
In Muslim-majority countries, the challenge is greater. It means ending blasphemy and apostasy laws, breaking the alliance of mosque and state, and securing free press and independent courts.
It also means supporting internal reformers — Muslims who argue for reinterpretation and freedom, knowing the personal danger it brings.
A straight claim, with a human face
Yes, questioning Islam can be a death sentence in several countries. And yes, even in the West, some Muslims openly support cruel punishments for non-believers and apostates — and some have acted on those beliefs with murder.
The fact that people live in these systems — and in some cases defend them — shows how deeply faith and fear can override the human instinct for freedom.
You can question Christianity without risking your life. That difference decides who speaks, who stays silent, and whether a religion can change at all.
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